Most likely the same as the last few years - at home on my own (probably) with my kitties, a homemade roast dinner for one and a bottle of nice wine, watching a couple of films/series and maybe going for a walk along the beach.

I should point out that this is through choice; I like being on my own most of the time, and I find Christmas is a great time to just relax and do whatever I want to without feeling that I should be doing something else.

_________________Some woopiter from Jupiter then says, and I quote: "That can't be true because I read otherwise online. Just look on Youtube." - torque

It's funny how a meal with so much excess can have so few options!Mash - full of dairySprouts - cooked in the ham waterRoasties - cooked in duck or goose lardStuffing - turkey "juices" added in

I'm so looking forward to not having to have the "can you leave the meat/dairy out of the < insert veg side here > please?" conversation. My MIL has already told me in a slightly joking way that I'm being mean (a "hard wife") by refusing to cook a dead bird for my OH.

Nope! Screw all that! I can sit around in my pants eating stuffing, mash and cranberry sauce sandwiches if I want to and revel in every glorious moment without any judgemental eyes (apart from the cats) :D

Ha, my Granny was just giving me a hard time for "not letting" my husband eat meat, because you know, all males automatically want to eat meat. Even though he's never eaten meat in his entire life and has no desire to. Which he explained to her. Even so, he has been told he can come over to hers any time and she will cook him meat, you know, once he gets sick of not eating it to "please me".

I have no idea what I'm going to do for Christmas dinner this year. We've gotten quite into roasted sprouts so I'll do some garlicky roast sprouts and potatoes, but that's the easy part! Last year we had the redwoods gammon roast but it was so salty I don't think we'll have it again. Suppose I better get thinking! I like the idea of doing a pie but I get so confused when I have lots of stuff going on in the oven...

We're going to the fiancé's family's in York, but I've no idea what to do about food yet. Might prepare some things and take them so they only need to be heated up? These planning issues stress me so much, it's to early to be stressing about Christmas :(

_________________movingscouse.co.uk - I pretend to be a blogger sometimes.

With Christmas only a couple of days away I'm totally not prepared for dinner now... I think I have to bring my own (if I don't want just roast veggies again). Might see if I can pick up something in the HFS.

I don't like getting stressed out making Christmas dinner, or spending all morning in the kitchen instead of making merry and all that, so I usually do this thing where I get a loaf pan and do one layer of that granose chicken style roast, one layer of stuffing from a packet, and one layer of granose sausage mix. It's pretty tasty and takes like 10 minutes to rehydrate the packets and assemble.

I like the sound of that. I've never seen Granose chicken style roast. Wonder if they sell it in Real Foods? In which case that may well be what I make for Christmas. (I need something I can take in a tub to work. Last year I made lasagne which was awesome, but I'm feeling lazy this year.)

_________________An unprocessed chicken is walking around and clucking to itself. And yes, I think they're healthier that way too. - Tofulish

I've decided I'm staying home so I can eat like a king. I just value my taste buds and my sanity too much so I'm going to be chilling with the pooch for the day.

The menu so far: from ltev festive chickpea tart and no-fu loaf, from VD chicken style seitan roast, from AFR shaved brussel sprouts and garlic and the chickpea gravy, then some mashed potatoes, roast potatoes, roast carrots and parsnips and some stuffing that I am totally making from a box.

That sounds amazing daisychain! I have just made the nut roast that I am taking to my parents' house. It's sitting in the kitchen cooling down before I put it in the freezer, and it smells so good I am sorely tempted to "test" a slice.

_________________Everyone turns into Boo Radley, if they live long enough ~ seitanicversesThere are as many ways to live as there are humans in the world ~ SchwaGrrrl

I don't like getting stressed out making Christmas dinner, or spending all morning in the kitchen instead of making merry and all that, so I usually do this thing where I get a loaf pan and do one layer of that granose chicken style roast, one layer of stuffing from a packet, and one layer of granose sausage mix. It's pretty tasty and takes like 10 minutes to rehydrate the packets and assemble.

I like the sound of that. I've never seen Granose chicken style roast. Wonder if they sell it in Real Foods? In which case that may well be what I make for Christmas. (I need something I can take in a tub to work. Last year I made lasagne which was awesome, but I'm feeling lazy this year.)

They don't sell it at Real Foods, but I can almost always find it at H&B. And H&B are doing a bogo 1/2 off sale, so if you find the chicken, you can buy that and get the sausage half price! That loaf sounds amazing, btw.

_________________A pie eating contest is a battle with no losers. - amandabear

I've just prepared my main course (mushroom & chestnut wellington) and it's now in the freezer, will lift it out on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning to go into the oven for half an hour or so - I'm working from now until Christmas Eve and won't have time to do the main thing on Christmas morning.

Basically I softened a finely diced onion and added a clove of minced garlic. Then I added about 400g of mushrooms - a mix of chestnut and oyster mushrooms, and sautéed for a bit, before adding some fresh thyme and salt and pepper. I then added a couple of handfuls of baby spinach and wilted it down, adding in a tbsp or so of breadcrumbs to soak up the excess moisture and then I crumbled in some chestnuts and wrapped all of the mixture up in some puff pastry, into a wellington type shape.

I'll serve it with gravy, some stuffing, roasted parsnips and potatoes, carrots and sprouts. Can't wait to eat it.

I don't like getting stressed out making Christmas dinner, or spending all morning in the kitchen instead of making merry and all that, so I usually do this thing where I get a loaf pan and do one layer of that granose chicken style roast, one layer of stuffing from a packet, and one layer of granose sausage mix. It's pretty tasty and takes like 10 minutes to rehydrate the packets and assemble.

I like the sound of that. I've never seen Granose chicken style roast. Wonder if they sell it in Real Foods? In which case that may well be what I make for Christmas. (I need something I can take in a tub to work. Last year I made lasagne which was awesome, but I'm feeling lazy this year.)

They don't sell it at Real Foods, but I can almost always find it at H&B. And H&B are doing a bogo 1/2 off sale, so if you find the chicken, you can buy that and get the sausage half price! That loaf sounds amazing, btw.

Oh, thanks!

wowetflutter wrote:

I've just prepared my main course (mushroom & chestnut wellington) and it's now in the freezer, will lift it out on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning to go into the oven for half an hour or so - I'm working from now until Christmas Eve and won't have time to do the main thing on Christmas morning.

Basically I softened a finely diced onion and added a clove of minced garlic. Then I added about 400g of mushrooms - a mix of chestnut and oyster mushrooms, and sautéed for a bit, before adding some fresh thyme and salt and pepper. I then added a couple of handfuls of baby spinach and wilted it down, adding in a tbsp or so of breadcrumbs to soak up the excess moisture and then I crumbled in some chestnuts and wrapped all of the mixture up in some puff pastry, into a wellington type shape.

I'll serve it with gravy, some stuffing, roasted parsnips and potatoes, carrots and sprouts. Can't wait to eat it.

Preparing things ahead of time would be a great idea even if you weren't working; then you get more time to enjoy Christmassyness instead of being stuck in the kitchen the whole time.The mushroom and chestnut wellington sounds amazing. Thanks for saying how you make it, as I think I'll be trying it as soon as I can! It's not trying to be a fake roast meat either, so perfect for serving to people and just having them enjoy delicious food without thinking 'Ugh, weird veggie stuff.'

_________________An unprocessed chicken is walking around and clucking to itself. And yes, I think they're healthier that way too. - Tofulish

I was about to make the pie crust for my chickpea tart today and realised my maize meal is waaaaaay out of date and looking a bit suspect. So now I will have to do that tomorrow night instead. Going to make the seitan Tuesday night. I have the chickpeas going now so I might make the pie filling Tuesday night too. I might do the loaf Wednesday morning before I go walking. I won't bother making dessert until after dinner is finished because I'm not able for that amount of food in one go.

I crapped out and bought a Celebration Roast for Xmas dinner. Xmas Eve is gonna be our traditional porkless pie, which requires some amount of actual work, so Xmas Day will be pre-made stuff. Well, I might roast some potatoes or something.

_________________A pie eating contest is a battle with no losers. - amandabear

For some insane reason I decided that December would be the best month to involve my first vegan Christmas, starting a new job and moving house....so I crapped out - ish. I've got a homemade sloe gin in my hand (from the batch I made last year that's just perfect now). Bread sauce is made, root veg is ready for roasting, marrowfat peas and stuffing just need heating up. Am then getting very fancy with my tesco instant veg gravy and my vegusto roast, which looks pretty delicious.

Have spent the last two days visiting people who have houses reeking of boiled ham and the like. Blargh. Felt like I was trapped in an Iceland ad with Kerri Katona wiggling her king prawn ring in front of me....

Wow! But how do you eat that beautiful tower on the left of the picture without it collapsing and making a mess?

I somehow failed to get out to the shops and buy in anything, but then realised I had Brussels sprouts, potatoes and vacuum packed, cooked chestnuts. So I made the sprout hash from AFR and added sliced chestnuts. It was delicious. Totally would have been great without the chestnuts but I was scared people were going to comment on my food and it seemed more festive to add them.

_________________An unprocessed chicken is walking around and clucking to itself. And yes, I think they're healthier that way too. - Tofulish